Hernani (drama)

Hernani (drama)

Hernani (Full title: Hernani, ou l'Honneur Castillan) is a drama by the French romantic author Victor Hugo.

The play opened in Paris on February 25, 1830. Today, it is more remembered for the demonstrations which accompanied the première, and for being the inspiration of Verdi's opera Ernani, than it is for its own merits. Hugo had enlisted the support of fellow Romanticists such as Hector Berlioz and Théophile Gautier to combat the opposition of Classicists who recognised the play as a direct attack on their values.

It is used to describe the magnitude/ elegance of Prince Prospero's masquerade. Also referenced in Edgar Allan Poe's short story, "The Masque of the Red Death". Gillenormand in Les Misérables criticizes Hernani.